1958 in literature
The year 1958 in literature involved some significant events and new books. Events *August 18 - Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in United States. *First volume of The Civil War by Shelby Foote is published. *Rumours of a library ban on Enid Blyton's books in New Zealand. *Herbert Marcuse begins teaching at Brandeis University. *Jack Kerouac writes and narrates the "beat" movie, Pull My Daisy. *Ken Kesey is awarded a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship to enrol in the creative writing program at Stanford University. *Mervyn Peake begins to develop Parkinson's Disease. New books *Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart *Kingsley Amis - I Like It Here *Jorge Amado - Gabriela, Cravo e Canela (Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon) *H. E. Bates - The Darling Buds of May *Thomas Berger - Crazy in Berlin *James Blish - A Case of Conscience *Joseph Payne Brennan - Nine Horrors and a Dream *Algis Budrys **''Man of Earth'' **''Who?'' *Truman Capote - Breakfast at Tiffany's *John Dickson Carr - The Dead Man's Knock *Raymond Chandler - Playback *Agatha Christie - Ordeal by Innocence *Richard Condon - The Oldest Confession *A. J. Cronin **''The Innkeeper's Wife'' **''The Northern Light'' *L. Sprague de Camp - An Elephant for Aristotle *Patrick Dennis - Around the World with Auntie Mame *August Derleth **''The Mask of Cthulhu'' **''The Return of Solar Pons'' *Lawrence Durrell **''Balthazar'' **''Mountolive'' *Ian Fleming - Dr. No *Peter George - Red Alert *Graham Greene - Our Man in Havana *Cyril Hare - He Should Have Died Hereafter *Marlen Haushofer - We Murder Stella *Georgette Heyer - Venetia *Harold L. Humes - The Underground City *Jack Kerouac - The Dharma Bums *Frances Parkinson Keyes - Victorine *Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa - The Leopard (published posthumously) *John D. MacDonald - The Executioners *Ross Macdonald - The Doomsters *Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes *Alberto Moravia - La ciociara *R. K. Narayan - ''The Guide *Kenzaburō Ōe - Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids *Mary Renault - The King Must Die *Anya Seton - The Winthrop Woman *Dr. Seuss - Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories *Alan Sillitoe - Saturday Night and Sunday Morning *Terry Southern (as Maxwell Kenton) - Candy *Rex Stout **''And Four to Go'' **''Champagne for One'' *Robert Traver - Anatomy of a Murder *Jack Vance - The Languages of Pao *Rex Warner - Young Caesar *Jerome Weidman - The Enemy Camp New drama * Samuel Beckett - Krapp's Last Tape * Brendan Behan - The Hostage * Max Frisch - The Fire Raisers and Phiipp Hotz's Fury * Jean Genet - The Blacks (first published) * Elmer Rice - Cue for Passion * Peter Shaffer - Five Finger Exercise * N. F. Simpson - The Hole * Arnold Wesker - Chicken Soup with Barley (first performed) * Tennessee Williams - Suddenly, Last Summer * Mohan Rakesh - Ashadh Ka Ek Din Poetry *Eli Siegel - Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana: Poems *Clark Ashton Smith - Spells and Philtres Non-fiction *Brendan Behan - Borstal Boy *Shelby Foote – The Civil War: A Narrative – Vol 1: Fort Sumter to Perryville *John Kenneth Galbraith - The Affluent Society *J. Edgar Hoover - Masters of Deceit *Aldous Huxley - Brave New World Revisited *Claude Lévi-Strauss – Structural Anthropology *John Maynard Smith - The Theory of Evolution *John Steinbeck – Once There Was A War *Raymond Williams – Culture and Society 1780-1950 Births *April 15 - Benjamin Zephaniah, dub poet *May - Roddy Doyle, novelist *June 10 - James F. Conant, philosopher *July 5 - Veronica Guerin, journalist (d. 1996) *''date unknown'' **Robert Antoni, novelist **Lionel Fogarty, poet **Flora Fraser, biographer **Wayne Johnston, novelist **Margaret Smith, poet **Nega Mezlekia, Ethiopian writer Deaths *February 4 - Henry Kuttner, science fiction author *March 21 - Cyril M. Kornbluth, science fiction writer *March 24 - Seamus O'Sullivan, poet *April 7 - Elliot Paul, American writer *May 5 - James Branch Cabell, fantasy fiction author *June 28 - Alfred Noyes, poet *September 11 - Robert W. Service, poet *October 24 - George Edward Moore, philosopher *October 30 - Rose Macaulay, novelist Awards * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Philippa Pearce, Tom's Midnight Garden * Hugo Award for Best Novel: Fritz Leiber, The Big Time * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Angus Wilson, The Middle Age of Mrs. Eliot * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Joyce Hemlow, The History of Fanny Burney * Miles Franklin Award: Randolph Stow, To the Islands * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Harold Keith, Rifles for Watie * Newdigate prize: Jon Stallworthy * Nobel Prize for literature: Boris Leonidovich Pasternak * Premio Nadal: J. Vidal Cadellans, No era de los nuestros * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Ketti Frings, Look Homeward, Angel * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: James Agee, A Death In The Family * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Robert Penn Warren, Promises: Poems 1954-1956 External links * Category:Years in literature Category:History of literature Category:Literature by year